Month: July 2017

No Middle Name: the Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories by Lee Child (FIC CHI), A collection of pulse-pounding Jack Reacher stories–one never-before-seen novella, plus eleven others collected for the first time in print–each with original introductions from the twelve-time #1 New York Times bestselling author”– Provided by publisher.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman (FIC GAI), As Shadow is about to be released from prison, he learns that his beloved wife has been killed in an accident. Feeling he has nothing else to lose, he becomes involved in a dangerous scheme that could cause him to lose more than he ever imagined.

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins (FIC HAW), “The author of the #1 New York Times bestseller and global phenomenon The Girl on the Train returns with Into the Water, her addictive new novel of psychological suspense. A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets long submerged. Left behind is a lonely fifteen-year-old girl. Parentless and friendless, she now finds herself in the care of her mother’s sister, a fearful stranger who has been dragged back to the place she deliberately ran from–a place to which she vowed she’d never return. With the same propulsive writing and acute understanding of human instincts that captivated millions of readers around the world in her explosive debut thriller, The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins delivers an urgent, twisting, deeply satisfying read that hinges on the deceptiveness of emotion and memory, as well as the devastating ways that the past can reach a long arm into the present. Beware a calm surface–you never know what lies beneath”– Provided by publisher.

Unlikely Friendships: Dogs by Jennifer Holland (636.7 HOL), “A heartwarming and inspirational book for the tens of millions of dog owners and dog lovers-and the newest addition to the phenomenal Unlikely Friendship series, a publishing program with three New York Times bestselling books and, with its bestselling calendars, nearly two million copies in print. Unlikely Friendships: Dogs brings together twenty-seven new stories of canine kindness and courage, plus a handful of classic tales involving dogs from Unlikely Friendships, Unlikely Loves, and Unlikely Heroes. Meet Rex, a Belgian Malinois who learned to love and trust again through the improbable friendship of a goose. Popeye the Mastiff, who ran into a burning stable and saved seventeen terrified horses by nibbling at their hooves. And a pit bull named Dolly, whose antics with her best friend, Sheldon the tortoise, include games of tag. (Yes, picture a tortoise running after a dog!) Enhanced with beautiful full-color photographs, these true stories of camaraderie, affection, remarkable bravery are more than a lovely tribute; they are proof that dogs are every creature’s best friend”– Provided by publisher.

Rimfire by William W. Johnstone (PBK J), The continuing story of Smoke Jensen’s long-lost nephews, Ace and Chance, a pair of young-gun twins as reckless and wild as the frontier itself…

A Stranger in Town by William W. Johnstone (PBK J), The train grinds to a halt somewhere in the Indian Nations, and the bandits get onboard. They take everything on the train worth stealing and gun down a guard to make their escape–just another notch on the belt for Ben Trout and Zack Larsen, two of the most savage killers in the west. U.S. Deputy Marshal Ed Pine follows them to Muskogee. There the trail runs cold, and Ed Pine disappears. To save his friend, Deputy Will Tanner rides for Muskogee, where justice extends only as far as the range of a Colt .45. Tanner earned his badge in a blistering gunfight, when he got the drop on a trio of killers and saved the life of another fellow marshal. Now, he&#x;ll have to be just as quick–and just as deadly. To bring in Trout and Larsen, Tanner must set his badge aside, and resort to the law of the gun.

Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones (FIC JON), Set in the deep South, Mongrels is a deeply moving, sometimes grisly, and surprisingly funny novel that follows an unnamed narrator as he comes of age under the care of his aunt and uncle – who are werewolves.

Beautiful Tempest by Johanna Lindsey (FIC LIN), “#1 New York Times bestselling author Johanna Lindsey now reveals the tempestuous story of Jacqueline Malory whose furious desire for revenge leads to a confrontation with the handsome pirate who abducted her–and sparks a much steamier kind of desire. For the first time, James Malory and his Anderson in-laws agree on something: It’s payback time for the culprit who kidnapped James and Georgina’s beloved daughter Jack from her American debutante party and whisked her away to the Caribbean, no matter that she escaped unscathed. James figured out who masterminded the dastardly plot and is leading a fleet of ships to the West Indies to deliver some Malory-style retribution. More interested in revenge than in finding a husband during her first London Season, Jack is furious that her father left her behind. Then an intriguing stranger leads her and her older brother Jeremy to her mysterious abductor. But instead of capturing him, the Malory siblings wind up as his ” guests” on a ship sailing away from England. As Jack re-engages in a battle of wills with her all too attentive captor, she realizes he is no ordinary pirate, perhaps no pirate at all, but a nobleman determined to settle a score that dates back to the days when her father was known as Captain Hawk–and what endangers her most is the increasingly passionate attraction they feel for each other”– Provided by publisher.

Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman (FIC LIP), Luisa “Lu” Brant is the newly elected– and first female– state’s attorney of Howard County, Maryland, a job in which her widower father famously served. Fiercely intelligent and ambitious, she sees an opportunity to make her name by trying a mentally disturbed drifter accused of beating a woman to death in her home. It’s not the kind of case that makes headlines, but peaceful Howard County doesn’t see many homicides. As Lu prepares for the trial, the case dredges up painful memories, reminding her small, but tight-knit, family of the night when her brother, AJ, saved his best friend at the cost of another man’s life. Only eighteen, AJ was cleared by a grand jury. Now, Lu wonders if the events of 1980 happened as she remembers them. What details might have been withheld from her when she was a child?

All or Nothing at All by Jennifer Probst (FIC PRO), “HGTV’s Property Brothers meets The Marriage Bargain in this third volume in the Billionaire Builders series, an all-new, heart-wrenching, and sexy contemporary romance from New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Probst. Tristan Pierce left the family business to carve out a life of his own, but never forgot his passionate affair with the much younger, inexperienced Sydney Greene, or the hurtful breakup that tore him apart. When he’s forced to return home and face his past, will he be able to carve out a future, or will lies ruin his second chance at love? Sydney Greene loved Tristan her entire life but when he left, he took not only her heart, but her trust along with him. Now that they’re together again, it’s time they both face the biggest secret of all…”– Provided by publisher.

Dangerous Minds by Janet Evanovich; : Buddhist monk Wayan Bagus lost his island of solitude and wants to get it back. The island was about two hundred miles northeast of Samoa. It had a mountain, beaches, a rain forest, and a volcano. And now it’s gone. Poof! Vanished without a trace. Brilliant and boyishly charming Emerson Knight likes nothing better than solving an unsolvable, improbable mystery. Together with Riley Moon and his cousin, Vernon, the mismatched trio embark on a worldwide investigation that will expose a conspiracy one hundred years in the making”– Adapted from dust jacket.

Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman: Luisa “Lu” Brant is the newly elected– and first female– state’s attorney of Howard County, Maryland, a job in which her widower father famously served. Fiercely intelligent and ambitious, she sees an opportunity to make her name by trying a mentally disturbed drifter accused of beating a woman to death in her home. It’s not the kind of case that makes headlines, but peaceful Howard County doesn’t see many homicides. As Lu prepares for the trial, the case dredges up painful memories, reminding her small, but tight-knit, family of the night when her brother, AJ, saved his best friend at the cost of another man’s life. Only eighteen, AJ was cleared by a grand jury. Now, Lu wonders if the events of 1980 happened as she remembers them. What details might have been withheld from her when she was a child?

The Book of Aron by Jim Shepherd; “Aron, [a child living in World War II Poland], is an engaging if peculiar and unhappy young boy whose family is driven by the German onslaught from the Polish countryside into Warsaw and slowly battered by deprivation, disease, and persecution … When his family is finally stripped away from him, Aron is rescued by Janusz Korczak, a doctor renowned throughout prewar Europe as an advocate of childrens’ rights who, once the Nazis swept in, was put in charge of the Warsaw orphanage. Treblinka awaits them all, but does Aron manage to escape–as his mentor suspected he could–to spread word about the atrocities?”–Amazon.com.

Rat Queens v. 2. The far reaching tentacles of N’rygoth; Who are the Rat Queens? A pack of booze-guzzling, death-dealing battle maidens-for-hire, and they’re in the business of killing all god’s creatures for profit. It’s also a darkly comedic sass-and-sorcery series starring Hannah the Rockabilly Elven Mage, Violet the Hipster Dwarven Fighter, Dee the Atheist Human Cleric and Betty the Hippy Smidgen Thief. This modern spin on an old school genre is a violent monster-killing epic that is like Buffy meets Tank Girl in a Lord of the Rings world on crack!– Publisher.

The Black Count by Tom Reiss; Explores the life and career of Thomas Alexandre Dumas, a man almost unknown today, but whose swashbuckling exploits appear in The three musketeers and whose trials and triumphs inspired The count of Monte Cristo.

I have been on Twitter since 2008, but I still read to keep up on Twitter as well as social media.

When i came to this book, I was in a position that I was wanting to back away from Twitter. I didn’t think that I was being effective so I was ready to back away, but this book breathed new life into my enjoyment of Twitter in my personal level and in my library account.

The book starts with a brief inspirational introduction from Guy Kawasaki. The bulk of the book deals with the basic mechanics of creating an account, creating a brand, crafting tweets, building a following and driving traffic to your brand, and even making money on Twitter. The finish with a discussion of third party apps that will help you to manage your Twitter account followed by a list of thought leaders to follow.

You can read this book page one to the end, or dip in and out where you need more direction. If you haven’t started Twitter, but have thought about it, get started . If you are like I was when you pick up this book use it to pick up one new idea and move forward.

This book is recommended for anyone who is interested in social media, or anyone who is working in social media marketing.

Gilead is a wonderful rambling letter, of a father, John Ames to his child. Ames is a pastor who is near his death and would like to tell his child of his life and his fore-bearers. John Ames is in a long line of preachers, his father is a minister in Iowa, his grandfather was a preacher in Maine who receives a vision of Christ chained in Kansas, so he heeds the call and goes to fight on the side of the Abolitionists to keep Kansas a free state. He talks about his friendship with John Ames Boughton and John’s wayward son. The book is as fresh as the morning . It is highly recommended for all readers.

Kindred by Octavia E, Butler; Dana, a black woman, finds herself repeatedly transported to the antebellum South, where she must make sure that Rufus, the plantation owner’s son, survives to father Dana’s ancestor.

A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin; New threats emerge to endanger the future of the Seven Kingdoms, as Daenerys Targaryen, ruling in the East, fights off a multitude of enemies, while Jon Snow, Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, faces his foes both in the Watch and beyond the great Wallof ice and stone.

Any Time, Any Place by Jennifer Probst “When she was a teenger, Raven Bella Stratton’s father was killed in a horrible car crash. The bigger shock was the discovery of a woman with him–Diana Pierce–and their two fully packed suitcases with airline tickets to Paris. Devastated by her father’s betrayal, Raven went to live with her aunt, never truly overcoming the traumatic event. When she discovers that the mysterious woman had a family with a husband and three boys, Raven vows to leave the memory of her father behind. Until Dalton Pierce visits one night and suddenly her past challenges her future… Leaving his life in California behind to run Pierce Construction with his two older brothers, Dalton Pierce has enjoyed returning home and studying his passion of woodworking. But when he visits the local bar with his brothers one evening, he’s immediately drawn to the smart-mouthed, badass, sexy bartender who sets his body on fire. Unfortunately, she doesn’t seem as intrigued by him, and his multiple advances are met with rejection. When he offers to restore the bar back to its original glory, he begins to work with her on a daily basis, and falls harder. His plan of seduction slowly weaves a web around them both, until they are caught up in the spell. But Dalton doesn’t know the secret that can either destroy them both…or finally mend two broken hearts”– Provided by publisher.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson; “In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames’s life, he begins a letter to his young son, an account of himself and his forebears. Ames is the son of an Iowa preacher and the grandson of a minister who, as a young man in Maine, saw a vision of Christ bound in chains and came west to Kansas to fight for abolition: He “preached men into the Civil War,” then, at age fifty, became a chaplain in the Union Army, losing his right eye in battle. Reverend Ames writes to his son about the tension between his father – an ardent pacifist – and his grandfather, whose pistol and bloody shirts, concealed in an army blanket, may be relics from the fight between the abolitionists and those settlers who wanted to vote Kansas into the union as a slave state. And he tells a story of the sacred bonds between fathers and sons, which are tested in his tender and strained relationship with his namesake, John Ames Boughton, his best friend’s wayward son.” “This is also the tale of another remarkable vision – not a corporeal vision of God but the vision of life as a wondrously strange creation. It tells how wisdom was forged in Ames’s soul during his solitary life, and how history lives through generations, pervasively present even when betrayed and forgotten.”–BOOK JACKET.

Use of Force by Brad Thor; When the body of a high-value terrorist washes ashore after a severe storm across the Mediterranean Sea, Scot Harvath is tapped by the CIA to determine if the suspect was connected to months of rumors about a major attack.